When the Green Bay Packers decided to move on from Joe Barry after the 2023 season, nobody had Jeff Hafley on replacement lists. After all, Hafley was established as a head coach at Boston College, with a contract securing him $4 million a year. But Hafley wasn’t happy, and the Packers’ offer came at the perfect time.
A former assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cleveland Browns, and San Francisco 49ers, Hafley went to college to be the Ohio State’s co-defensive coordinator, but was quickly hired as a head coach by BC. College football drastically changed in Hafley’s four seasons there, though, which affected his passion for the job.
“It’s devastating,” Hafley told Fox Sports about losing transfer players. “When that keeps happening, over and over again, you pour everything you have into these guys and you’re teaching them and coaching them and you were maybe their only offer, and now they potentially might be leaving for money. They’re not thinking about their degree. They’re not thinking about their education. So instead of coaching, I’m on the phone trying to raise money. I got to the point where I said, ‘I don’t want to do this.’ I had stopped coaching. I was doing a job that wasn’t what I’d always dreamt to do.”
Hafley found himself again in Green Bay
Jeff Hafley talks like a head coach, acts like a head coach, he has everything to eventually become an NFL head coach. But for now, he’s happy to be a football coach. As an NFL defensive coordinator, he has once again the chance of working exclusively around real football stuff.
“I didn’t know what my expectation was, other than I couldn’t wait to get back to coaching football and immersing myself in football again,” Hafley added. “So far, it’s been a lot of fun. You ask if this is what I expected? Yeah. I love what I’m doing. I love going to work. I love the guys I coach. I love being around the staff. I look forward to it every day.”
Since Hafley took over as the Packers DC in 2024, the defense is sixth in EPA/play. Under head coach Matt LaFleur between 2019 and 2023, with Mike Pettine and Joe Barry as the coordinators, the unit had been 16th. It’s a major improvement, with hopes to get even better over the course of the season.
“It’s to develop players and teach these young guys the fundamentals and technique. I think that’s still the most important thing that people forget about sometimes,” Hafley said. “I think in the NFL, people get caught up in scheme, scheme, scheme. Ultimately, I believe in all my heart that it’s about fundamentals and technique. It’s about your eyes and your feet. It’s about getting off blocks. It’s about tackling. It’s about leverage. At BC, we didn’t always have the highest-rated recruits, you had to develop guys.”
Maybe Jeff Hafley won’t be in Green Bay for much longer as he’s already been mentioned as a head coaching candidate. But the Packers changed the trajectory of his career — and there will always be a special connection.
